


Yuki's Backstory

by KirbyPaint



Series: Tales of Eldrigar [2]
Category: Pathfinder (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-05
Updated: 2015-11-05
Packaged: 2018-04-30 03:59:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5149487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KirbyPaint/pseuds/KirbyPaint
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the story I created based off the backstory prompts I rolled up for Yuki.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Yuki's Backstory

It was an average day for the reigning Meiyoken couple. Empress Yasuko and her husband Emperor Kensuke had just sat down for their daily lunch break – scrambled egg and potatoes, with sauce – when an unexpected knock interrupted them.

 

It was Norio, their advisor. “Lady Yasuko, Lord Kensuke, the seer Hisao would like a meeting with you. Shall I let him in?”

_Hisao?_ They both looked at each other in confusion – evidently, neither had asked the seer here, so this must be something important.

 

“Sure, let him in,” Yasuko said.

 

“As you wish,” and with that Norio left to retrieve the seer.

 

“What do you think this could be about?” Kensuke asked his wife. She merely shrugged, having no idea what could be so important that the royal lunch (as she called it) was interrupted.

 

As Hisao entered the room, the two noticed his traditionally doom-and-gloom face was replaced with a much happier visage. He was genuinely smiling – surely for the first time this month, if not this year.

 

“Oh, joyous day! I have seen the future, and it is glorious! The songs that will be sung! The books written! _The stories told!_ ” The eighty-something-year-old man was practically skipping through the royal throne room yelling his praises too quickly for either Yasuko or Kensuke to understand. As Hisao made his way back around to where the couple stood, Kensuke thrust out a thick hand and caught the man in his path.

 

“Dearest seer, we greatly value your advice and insight on our land and its people, and though we are grateful you choose to enlighten us in matters of the future, you have to speak such things to us in a speed normal people can understand. We’re royalty, but still mortal!”

 

Hisao looked momentarily ashamed, but that quickly left as he began his story again – only at a slower pace this time.

 

“Rejoice, for the dragons have shown me what is to come of your firstborn child, and it is truly glorious! I have seen her, and rest assured her leadership will bring us to a prosperity not seen since the first Dragon Warrior Azumi!”

 

Kensuke gasped. Yasuko couldn’t stop beaming at pride for an as-yet-unborn child. _He or she will be this great? How wonderful!_

 

“What else did you see,” Kensuke asked, in his get-to-business voice. “What about our child?”

 

“Ah yes, your child! She carried a great sword, and was garbed in the traditional black and red armor. A warrior’s heart, for sure! And I saw her breathe fire on the battlefield, striking down armies, a group of worthy allies at her side. She then turned to me and smiled, and told me to tell you she loves you.

 

“But there is another thing… something not as wondrous as the rest of the sight…” Hisao grew quiet, and had to be prompted to continue. “This was blurry, though I remember a few things. I fear you two will be struck down by a formidable foe. I don’t know who, I didn’t get any details, and I don’t know for sure that you two should even perish, but I did see the possibility.

 

“I also saw the kingdom in great turmoil, but even this was fainter than the preceding vision, and I’m not entirely sure it was this kingdom I saw. Visions are odd like that”

 

Yasuko shook her head. “You always say the future is not set in stone, and I choose to believe that. I believe our future child – our _daughter_ – will indeed grow as strong as you say, and when she does, I have no worries that she will protect us.” At that, Kensuke wrapped his arms around Yasuko, and the two shared a loving glance. _Our child will save everyone one day – let’s live to watch that happen._

 

“Is there anything else, Hisao?”

 

Hisao pondered for a few moments, then turned to Kensuke. “Be careful of whom you interact with. Not everyone is as they seem. Other than that, I bid you both a great day, and my apologies for interrupting your lunch date.” He bowed and exited the room.

 

The two stood in silence for a moment, absorbing the seer’s information and processing it their own ways. Once the moment had passed, Yasuko sat back down in her seat and began eating her lukewarm lunch. Kensuke’s eyebrows quirked in confusion.

 

“Honey…? Don’t you want to talk about… this?” He waved his hands in the air, as if they could touch the “this” he referred to.

 

Yasuko simply closed her eyes and finished her lunch. When she did so, she smiled and looked to her husband, tears in her eyes.

 

“We are going to have a daughter. A brave, powerful, honorable, worthy heir of a daughter. She’s going to fight, she’s going to get hurt, but she will come back stronger than ever. Do you know how this makes me feel?”

 

“Like… you don’t want to believe all that Hisao said?”

 

“No,” she laughed, “I’d much rather pretend our daughter would never face hardship in her life. If I could shield her from any harm, I’d want to do so in a heartbeat, regardless of the consequences. You know this, I’ve told you how I grew up and how I intend on raising our children. However, doing that… protecting her from the horrors of the world, big and small, will do nothing for her understanding. She won’t know pain, she won’t know how to handle it, and she would be a worse leader because of it. She needs to be able to be sympathetic to those who have known true pain, and she cannot gain this from stories alone.”

 

Yasuko wiped a stray tear away, but continued on as if nothing happened.

 

“I know she will come back from these pains stronger than ever, for she will have to do so if she is to become half the woman Hisao saw her to be.” At this, she stood up and walked to her husband’s chair and laced her arms around his neck. Kensuke reached a hand up to clear the rest of Yasuko’s face, then he gently kissed her cheeks.

 

He pulled away from Yasuko, grimacing slightly and asked, “You have a lot of faith in our future child. How disappointed would you be if we had no female children?”

 

Yasuko smirked at her doubtful man, “I am confident in your abilities, my warrior husband, in giving me the warrior daughter we want. Now come, Kensuke, and lay with me. I believe we have an heiress to give the kingdom.”

 

Kensuke’s lunch lay forgotten on the table as the two left to their chambers.

 

_Three months later…_

“Welcome, everyone, to the Dragon Temples! We hope that you are all comfortable, but for those who are not, don’t worry, this is a brief announcement.

 

“As you know, Empress Yasuko and Emperor Kensuke have been reigning the lands for quite a few years, and though they have talked about having children, that has not yet happened.

 

“However, I, Norio, am pleased to announce that Empress Yasuko is with child! The residential doctor has confirmed this news, and she appears to be about three months along.

 

“The Emperor and Empress thank you all for your continued support and dedication to the kingdom, and know that when the time comes, your new Emperor or Empress will continue to lead us into times of great prosperity!”

 

The large crowds gathered at the bases of the temples cheered in delight at the news, for Kensuke and Yasuko had been reigning for around nine years now. It was about time an heir was announced.

 

Norio put down that scroll and picked up another. “There is more! According to this, their heir has been foreseen as a great Savior of the lands and will lead the lands to security not seen in centuries – comparable to the reign of Empress Azumi herself! May the future child be blessed with hope, luck, and bravery, and may the Dragons smile fondly upon him or her.”

 

With that, Norio bid everyone leave, and for days the town talked about nothing but the foretold Savior child.

 

* * *

 

 

Most ten-year-olds received a formal education in schools. They were taught reading, writing, math… the basics.

           

Yuki was not most ten-year-olds. By this time in her life, she’d received a year in sword training, three years in formal tutoring, and two in something she referred to fondly as “How to Be Prissy – For Children.”

 

And perhaps most ten-year-olds would be excited to learn how to wield a weapon (the base age for even starting lessons in the Temples was fourteen, and that was if they were exceptionally matured) but today was just another exhausting day for Yuki, and she made this quite well known.

 

“I’ve already knocked you down twice today, can I please take a break Kato Sensei?”

 

“You have been practicing for only thirty minutes, and I’ve knocked you down five times. Once we reach an hour, you have permission to slack off. Now, take up your sword and fight better! And don’t forget your blocks, you always forget your blocks.”

 

Kato was, to put it bluntly and in a word Yuki would deny knowing, a hardass. He was stern, unsmiling, and rarely let the young heiress take a break. He seemed to forget she was just ten, pushing her as hard as the teenagers and adults he trained. He didn’t understand the girl’s need for momentary distractions, and frequently left bruises with the wooden swords they practiced with.

 

Never on her face, though.

 

Within ten seconds Kato _thwapped_ Yuki with his wooden katana and she fell to the ground _hard_. Tears sprung to her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Last time she cried, she earned a twelve-minute lecture on the dangers of letting the enemy see your emotions and on fighting with “optical obstructions”.

 

She’d rather earn more bruises than feel Kato’s disappointment again.

 

Yuki took a moment to steel herself, then rose up, trying and hopelessly failing to land a hit on the nimble trainer. Once her hour of training finished up, Kato bowed to the girl, then left without so much as another word.

 

Yuki waited until she’d reached her room to finally let the tears fall.

 

As if summoned by the anguish of her daughter, Yasuko appeared, knocking on the door before letting herself in anyway.

 

“Go away Mom!” the girl cried, before cocooning herself in her many blankets.

 

“What’s wrong, Princess? Rough day at training again? You always come back so defeated, and it breaks my heart to see you like this.”

 

Yuki felt her mother embrace the blanket orb that shrouded her body, then decided to talk – _a little!_ – about her terrible day. “It’s Kato Sensei again, he’s always so mean to me, and he never lets me relax. And he always hits too hard. And he’s so grumpy! Why did you hire a grumpy man?”

 

“Sweetie, you know we only wants best for you, right?” Yasuko paused, and the blanket lump appeared to nod. “Kato Sensei is the best teacher around. He may be stiff, but he’ll teach you to become a better warrior than anyone else. He only hits hard because if he hit softly, would you feel the need to dodge as much?” The lump shook her head. “Exactly. He’s only helping you to fulfill your destiny. You’re going to become the strongest warrior there ever lived, and one day, you’ll pound Kato into the ground with your supreme sword skill, and on that day your training will end.”

 

This all made sense to ten-year-old Yuki. Didn’t mean she had to like it.

 

“Mom? Can you get the skin lotion?”

 

“Of course, Yuki.”

 

And her mother set herself to soothing her daughter’s aches, both physically and emotionally, though there was only so much the lotion could soothe.

 

The next day was an academic day, and though she was intelligent enough for a kid, she didn’t always understand the lessons. She could read and write well enough, but math was her weakest subject, and she frequently grew frustrated at the numbers that refused to make any sort of sense on the pages. Like she needed to multiply! She was destined to be a warrior, not some stuffy teacher! Not even her exceptionally mathematically-inclined fourteen-year-old tutor could get her to understand six times five was indeed thirty, and not sixty-five.

 

Sami, the tutor, was infinitely patient, and though she could go into excruciating detail on how she couldn’t technically be infinitely patient, she knew when to draw the line. And it was now, apparently, as Yuki spent the last ten minutes staring off into space as Sami expanded on all the uses of multiplication in daily life.

 

“…and of course, don’t forget when you invite lords over and need to account for – Yuki? What’s goin’ on in that little head of yours?”

 

“Not a bunch of dumb numbers,” she huffed, then went back to zoning out.

 

Sami scowled, though not at Yuki insulting numbers. _They don’t even have brains, they can’t be dumb._ Sami, being still pretty young herself, knew the large amount of pressure Yuki’s parents must be placing on the girl. You know, being the Savior and all that jazz. Sami got that from her parents too. After discovering her proclivity with anything numerical and prowess at solving incredibly difficult sums, she was immediately sent off to a land near the ocean, where she learned successively harder branches of math, until there was no more math to learn. Three days after she finally returned, her parents presented her with a letter from the Emperor and Empress, formally asking if she would teach their daughter math through all her formative years, and the sum of money offered was far too great for her (but mostly her parents) to refuse. So yeah, Sami understood pressure.

 

“Well do you wanna talk about it? There’s no sense in me trying to teach you if you aren’t willing to learn. That’s basic stuff; you and I don’t need math to get that.”

 

Yuki giggled a bit, and Sami was glad the young girl was pulled (at least temporarily) out of her funk.

 

“It’s dumb stuff really. Kato Sensei is mean and my mom doesn’t get it. I know they want what’s best from me, they tell me that every day, but sometimes I just get tired and want to take a break.”

 

“Yeah, I get that. It’s a lot, isn’t it? All this pressure to be the best, even though you didn’t ask for it?”

 

Yuki brightened completely, and Sami knew her words helped.

 

“Exactly, that’s exactly it! Can you just tell my parents that so I can have a day off once in a while?” Yuki looked so eager that Sami nearly considered it, even though her words would have zero impact on the heiress’ daily regime.

 

“Sure, kid, I’ll let them know next time I see them.”

 

“Cool!” Yuki jumped in her seat, eagerly awaiting her new possibilities for vacations. Unfortunately, this little conversation only took five minutes of their time, and that meant there was an hour and forty-five more minutes to kill. Yuki at least learned how to tell time, if only to tell how much time was left until she could _escape_. She frowned as she grumbled out, “I guess you’re gonna try and teach me more number tricks now?”

 

Sami thought, then ran a few calculations in her head, then shook it in disagreement. “Nope, kid, we’re going to have some fun. What do you think about,” she leaned in conspiratorially, “ _getting ice cream instead?_ ”

 

Yuki’s loud gasp, followed by her clutching her mouth and nodding, was more than enough incentive for the older girl to begin planning their escape plans. As one of the consultants for last year’s yearly Temple upgrade, she provided the mathematical formulas to best structurally improve the temples. As such, she spent a long, _long_ time studying the Temples’ designs and had them practically memorized. She spent a few moments planning their route, then hoisted Yuki up on her back, swearing the little girl to secrecy and utter silence through the hallways.

 

Twenty minutes later, the two girls were enjoying their frozen treats. These secret excursions continued bi-weekly all through Yuki’s tutoring, until she hit sixteen and no longer officially required Sami’s teachings. After that, they were weekly, with Yuki having official permission to leave the grounds, and Sami having moved out of the Temples into a nice little home just outside the Temple walls.

 

Yuki always hated her childhood, looking back on the intensity and roughness, but she could never hate math. Not when her best friend was her teacher.

 

* * *

 

On the day of every potential Dragon Warrior’s graduation, he or she must publicly complete a sequence of tests to demonstrate they are worthy of guarding the people.

 

Things are a little different if the Dragon Warrior in question is to become the heir of the lands one day. For starters, they must complete the tests on their eighteenth birthday, regardless of their skill level. Another significant difference is the intensity of the tests. The only people who can survive the test (at least in one piece) are those born with the true potential to become the Dragon Warrior Heir.

 

So naturally, Yuki was a little nervous.

 

“What if I… what if something happens to me? Sami, what if I _die_ out there?” Yuki held a scrap piece of paper in her hands that would undoubtedly be torn to bits by the time she had to leave for the combat.

 

“Yu, I’ve seen you fight. I come here like, every other day, and I watch you fight, and you are absolutely incredible! Remember when you told me you were worried about losing to Kato when you were fifteen? Do you know how many times someone has even slightly hit you on the battlefield since that day?”

 

“…No.”

 

“Zero. Since I have seen you fight, not a single fighter has so much as brushed you. At least, that I’ve seen. So quit worrying your pretty little head and go kick some Sensei ass!”

 

Admittedly, this made Yuki feel a little better – _a lot better_ – but her general uneasiness could only be put aside for so long. “You haven’t seen how brutal these things get. It’s not a normal fight, Sami. I could get really hurt out there, and I kind of like my body in one piece.”

 

“So fight as you always do and it’ll stay that way. I ran the numbers for your probability of succeeding just now, if you’re curious.” Yuki just rolled her eyes and continued to apply her face paint. Her shakiness was smudging, though, so Sami took the brush and sat her panicking friend down. She applied the ritualistic face paint with a steady hand, getting the job done much quicker (and better) than if Yuki had continued her attempt. The red and black stood out starkly against the white, and for the first time, Yuki truly looked like a warrior.

 

When she saw herself in the mirror, she almost couldn’t recognize herself. She was wearing her full warrior’s garb – nice chainmail, not the Dragon Steel she would get once she was crowned, but nice nonetheless. The crimson lining stood out crisply against the black-dyed chains and she twisted her body a few times to hear the chains shake, as silly as that was. Anything to relieve her tension. She then focused on her painted face. It was traditional to choose a design in white, black, and red, and then paint that on to mark their Dragon heritage. She frowned, disliking how cold and heartless it made her look, then pulled a quick face to feel better. Sami looked up just in time to see her sticking her tongue out at herself, but shook her head and made no comment, and went back to rearranging some scrolls. Yuki finally settled on a calm look, settling all her facial features into blankness and decided that _yes, this was the warrior look!_ Instead of angry, she looked composed, just as the pictures of her ancestors did. For the first time that day, she really felt she could do this.

 

But what really sold it was the sword at her hip. The paint and armor made her look intimidating, sure, but the obsidian and Dragon Steel sword (custom-made by her family as a gift for her Rank Four Sword Master test completion) solidified the idea that this little girl had truly grown into a woman.

 

And not just any woman.

 

The Savior.

 

Sami finished whatever she was doing and returned to Yuki’s side. She rested one arm over Yuki’s shoulder and the other at her hip.

 

“Damn, you look… well I really don’t have the words. I never got that education,” the two shared a laugh, remembering how awful it was for Yuki to learn more verbose ways of speaking, “but I’ll go with the best I have. You look breathtaking. You’re gonna walk out of this tent and the coliseum is gonna hold its collective breath. And then, when everyone remembers to breathe, there won’t be a person out there who isn’t cheering for you. And I’ll be front-and-center the whole time.”

 

The ceremonial trumpets sounded, signifying it was time for Yuki to meet her destiny.

 

“Well… it’s time,” the heiress groaned. “Wish me luck?”

 

“You don’t need it… but good luck.”

 

Sami gave her a good luck hug as well, being extra careful not to smudge the paint, and pushed her out of the tent, walking out the back way to find her place in the stands.

  

“On this day, Yuki Meiyoken of the Meiyoken trueborn line will face a daunting number of tasks, each more difficult than the other. She will prove her worth as the next heir of the Meiyoken line or meet her doom, for only those who are trueborn can face these challenges. Send in the first challenge!”

 

The trumpets blared again, and suddenly a door opened across from her. A man clad in thick plate mail stepped out from the door and walked until he was in the middle of the stadium. She met with him, they shook hands, and backed ten paces away. The trumpets blared again, and the two fought. This challenge was not to the death, but rather to the first to five armor hits, as Yuki achieved within the minute. Her opponent’s training was nothing on her decade, and she quickly dispatched him. The crowd cheered their approval, and Yuki felt… triumphant. It was just one battle, though, so she quelled the feeling and steeled herself for the second test.

 

Test two was a balance test. A number of narrow earthen pillars rose from the ground, one of them directly under Yuki’s feet, and another under the next fighter she was to defeat. This time, the fighters had to knock the other off the pillars, and whoever hit the ground first won. Yuki hopped nimbly from pillar to pillar, but her opponent – a woman this time – was lighter on her feet. She hopped as though the wind carried her and quickly made her way to Yuki, thrusting her bo staff every chance she got, with Yuki parrying and blocking mostly everything. The woman was exceptionally quick though, and with a quick sweep of her staff, the warrior had Yuki on her back… but not off the pillar. The crowd gasped, but Yuki quickly recovered, going for a leg sweep. The woman barely hopped and lunged for the “killing blow,” but Yuki had anticipated this and reached out a hang, grabbing the staff in its tracks. Without giving the other warrior time to recover, Yuki maneuvered the staff directly in front of the other woman and gave a forceful shove, catching her off guard and in the face. She fell to the ground with a thud, her nose broken and bleeding profusely. The crowd paused, as if to process what had happened, then went absolutely wild.

 

As much as Yuki would have loved to take in the moment, her first step was to roll off the pillar and check on the woman. She was bruised and battered, but conscious, and a healer was already on his way. The woman bowed to Yuki and left to get treatment, and that was when Yuki allowed herself a moment of celebration. She turned around in a circle to see all the faces of the people – _her people, soon_ – until she found one face in particular. Her best friend looked equal parts desperately worried and overjoyed, but nonetheless happy for her. She waved, and Sami eagerly waved back, then Yuki turned back to the middle of the room for her third test.

 

This test was a feat of raw strength. A rotating totem pole protruded from the center of the room, a thick paddle extending fifteen feet from either side, with a deep pit extending out in front. Yuki knew this one – she would stand on one side of the rod, with someone strong on the other side, and each would try to push the other around to the pit. Whoever was weakest ate dirt.

 

Yuki sized up her opponent. He was a burly man, but she suspected his muscles were mostly water weight. They were large, but not well-defined. Even still, she knew she’d need to act quickly, else she’d become tired out.

 

The trumpets blared, they took their positions, then the trumpets blared again and they started. Almost immediately Yuki found herself struggling to compete, but she managed to hold her ground pretty well. Although she was pushing as hard as she could, she found she was steadily losing ground – though slowly. She took a quick glance over at her opponent and saw that he was sweating bullets. _So this was as hard for him as it is for me._ That gave her a quick boost of reassurance, and she strained to make progress. She held out another few seconds, but began to slip again. She found Sami’s face in the crowd, then suddenly remembered one of their math lessons.

 

_“If you push a lever from its farthest point, you’ll get the best work out of it. It’s why see-saws work like they do, you’ve got the weights at the far ends instead of the middle.”_

Yuki realized what she was pushing was basically a see-saw on its side, and noticed there were a few inches she could still move to the left. Inches that either wouldn’t make a difference or that would make all the difference in the world. She carefully shifted her hands over, desperately trying not to give her opponent any more distance over her, and gave another, fatigued push.

 

The effect was instantaneous. Suddenly it wasn’t as hard to push against the lever. In fact, it was rather easy. She gained a few inches in moments, then with a burst of renewed vigor buckled down and shoved as if her life depended on it. Which it kind of did. She looked over to her opponent only to find him looking frantically back at her, searching for the secret to her sudden success. Yuki practically ran the last couple of feet, finally pushing her opponent into the pit with ease. He hit the ground with a muffled thud, much like the last opponent, and the crowd went absolutely bonkers. Yuki raised two victorious (and shaky) arms up into the air and her parents ran out from the crowd to congratulate her personally.

 

“We’re so proud of you, Yuki!” her father practically yelled as he grabbed her in a tight hug.

 

“You’ve complete the first half faster than anyone on record!” her mother beamed as she too, joined the hug.

 

“I… can’t… _breathe_ …” Yuki’s parents quickly released their daughter from their tight embrace, though they stood by as Sami joined the group, arms wide, and Yuki prepared for another (hopefully softer) hug.

 

“I said you wouldn’t need luck, did I not?” Yuki could only grin – the collective high from her victory and from the adrenaline coursing through her body made it hard for her to even consider denying her best friend’s statement.

 

“You were right, Sami, you’re always right. Oh, speaking of you being always right, I finally used your so-called ‘math’ outside of the classroom. It was when I was pu-”

 

“Pushing the levers! That’s how you did it! I just thought you were holding back, ready to wow us all with your impressive muscles at the last moment when we had all given up hope.”

 

Yuki just laughed and shrugged, “No, I was genuinely losing.”

 

The announcer’s voice boomed throughout the coliseum. “The contestant is given a one-hour break until the next half of the challenge to recuperate from her physical stress, though she is not allowed outside of the coliseum and outlying boundaries. Everyone else is free to leave, the gates will be open for this hour, and those who wish to witness the Dragon Warrior half of the challenge are welcome back. If you are outside the gates when they close, you will not be allowed back in. That is all.”

 

Kensuke and Yasuko bid their daughter temporary farewell after the announcements ended, though they assured her they’d be back for the second half, they just had paperwork to fill out stating she passed the initial tests. This just left Yuki and Sami, with Yuki unsure if Sami even wanted to stay in the coliseum for the hour.

 

“Do you wanna come hang with me for a bit? I can’t leave, and I’d rather have company…”

 

Sami rolled her eyes. “Duh. Where else do you think I’d go?”

 

The two linked arms and walked to the champion’s tent. As soon as they entered, Yuki felt herself being led towards the bed, then pushed down on the bed, then covered with the blanket.

 

“Lie down, lady, get some rest for once,” Sami demanded, and for once Yuki felt inclined to listen to her demands. When Sami asked for things nicely, she’d listen, but not even her best friend could _demand_ the future Empress do anything she didn’t want to. Even though Yuki felt full of energy, the moment her head hit the mattress she prayed to the dragons she would never need to stand again. _So comfortable…_

 

“Mmmfhh,” she groaned, “can I just sleep here? Forever?”

 

“Not forever, or you’ll miss your next challenges and won’t ever become our all-knowing Empress.”

 

“Right now, I’m not seeing how this is a bad thing…”

 

Sami once again rolled her eyes – Yuki could be so dense sometimes – and listed off a few incentives.

 

“Well, you won’t get to be rich anymore, and that’ll suck. You won’t get to live in the palace, your parents will probably disown you, you’ll lose your honor, I’ll totally dump you as a friend-”

 

“What? No! What?” The thought of losing her oldest (and to be honest, only) friend scared Yuki back into full consciousness. “Would… you really do that?”

 

Yuki’s heartbroken voice immediately cut through Sami’s joking demeanor, and she turned to face her fully. Yuki looked totally devastated, and she was certain if she didn’t immediately rectify the situation, her friend might have a slight meltdown.

 

“ _Gods_ , no,” she breathed, reaching for her friend’s hand to assure her even further, “what we have? This? It’s permanent, lady. You’re not getting rid of me so easily. Face it – you’re stuck with me for life.”

 

“That’s fine. There are worse life sentences.” They shared a moment of companionable silence, but Yuki interrupted that to warn her that if she ever threatened to friend dump her again, she’d have her exiled from the kingdom.

 

“Good luck with that, I have most of the city memorized, I’ll just sneak back in and find you.”

 

“True… okay seriously though, I’m gonna need you to wake me up in like half an hour though, I need sleep, then I need to re-do my face paint, I can feel it sweating off of me.”

 

“Sure thing, _Empress_ ,” she snarked, and lay herself down to ensure her friend got good, albeit relatively short, sleep.

 

 

“Hey, Yu, wake up, gotta fix your pretty makeup so you can show off for all those hunky future emperors out there.”

 

Yuki gave a noncommittal grunt and shoved herself out of bed. She failed to remember she was wearing armor and misplaced her weight, causing her to flop back on the ground. She merely groaned in response to her face meeting the floor, and decided that was enough effort for one day.

 

“Wow. If only the people could see their future leader now. They’ll call you the Empr-ass, what with your ass in the air like that. They’ll witness your _ass_ ension to the throne, _ass_ k you for advice, hell, someone might try to _ass_ … _ass_ inate you, hey that was a two-fer…”

 

“Sami?”

 

“Yes, oh glorious _ass_ ed one?”

 

“Two things. One: go fuck yourself, two: _please paint my face back on?_ ”

 

Sami set herself to work, carefully removing the original layer of paint (which had indeed been mostly sweated off) then quickly and easily redoing the same design as before, only messing up once when Yuki’s eye twitched. Even that was a minor error, easily covered with the black paint.

 

“There you go. All dolled up for your formal Empree _aaaaaasssssssss_ appearance. What do you think, anything I need to fix?”

 

Yuki briefly examined her paint. _Everything’s perfect._ “It’s great! Thanks. For everything.”

 

Sami grew confused. “Everything? This was hardly anything, it’s just paint, that’s not a big deal.”

 

“No, I meant… Thanks, for being here, for being my friend… and… stuff…” Yuki wasn’t really great with sentiments, and she knew if it weren’t for the paint, she’d totally be caught red-faced. She sent a silent thanks to whoever decided that warpaint would be part of the trials.

 

“Of course, Yuki, I’ve got your back, no matter what. You’re my best friend and I love you, Ass Empress or lonely child struggling with math. And everything in between.”

 

“Wow, not sure how to follow that one up…”

 

“Oh you’re gonna be the worst Empress ever. How about starting with, ‘ _I love you too, oh dearest Sami, who I promise can still visit me even when I’m rich, and famous, and have my own family.’_ Seriously, I came up with that off the top of my head, you’re gonna need to learn to do that eventually if you’re gonna give awesome speeches. Now, let me hear you say it-”

 

“Sami please don’t-”

 

“ _‘I love you too-’_ ”

 

“-please **stop** -”

 

“ _‘-oh dearest Sami-’_ ”

 

“ _Okay okay I love you too oh dearest Sami who I promise can still visit me even when I’m rich and famous and have my own family even though you’re basically all the more family I need and you always are allowed to hang out even on important meetings and-_ ”

 

Her words were cut short as Sami embraced her in a tight hug. Not one quite as back-breaking as her dad had given her earlier, but it was certainly enough to leave an impression. She could nearly feel Sami’s arms through the armor, so she knew the other girl must be gripping her as tight as she could.

 

“Just come back to me,” Sami whispered.

 

“I always will,” she replied, and the trumpets blared, calling her back to the battlefield.

 

“These next tests will prove the dragons have chosen Yuki Meiyoken as the next heir to the Dragon Throne,” the announcer blared, “and with their decision our future will be known. Release the first test!”

 

The first test was to see how Yuki reacted when presented with a mind full of horrors. Would her willpower triumph over that which she feared the most and carry her through danger?

 

Or would her fears overcome her in battle?

 

The sorcerer prepared the spell. He was one of two people who knew this specific spell, a Dragonic fear spell meant to purposely and progressively show the worst fears of the subject to them to break down their will. At best, they resist. Most cases left the subject unconscious. A select few had been known to die from it, having weak wills and hearts. The caster finished his chant, and the spell was cast. Meanwhile, jets of flame burst randomly from overhead, below, really any point in the area, and Yuki had to get from one end of the maze to the other while both dodging the flames and her own fears.

 

It started small. She could feel the niggling doubt in the back of her mind – _you cannot win_ – but that was no issue. The flames really weren’t, either. They were hardly the size of match flames. Even when one did burn her, it was always her armor that took the hit, and she hardly even noticed that.

 

It was after she’d taken three right turns and a left that she started feeling a little more doubt. She began hearing boos in the audience, and some people calling her the _Empress of chaos_ , saying that she’d bring nothing but turmoil. She just ignored those few, until one voice in particular spoke to her.

 

“ _I don’t think she can do this_.”

 

The voice of Yasuko Meiyoken cut cleanly through the rest of the voices, silencing them all. In fact, Yuki couldn’t hear anything anymore. She could still see and feel, but the deafness disoriented her enough that a flame caught her off-guard, singeing the back of her wrist. She cried out, silently to her at least, and gingerly cradled her wrist. When she looked up in the crowd to see if her mom had really said that, she saw, to her relief, that her mom couldn’t have said that, because she was no longer there.

 

_Not even staying to watch my challenges…_

 

But wait – that was ridiculous. She saw them right before the task began. She waved to them! Besides, now that everything began again, no one could leave, so her mom had to have been on the stands somewhere. She was totally watching. Having come to this realization, Yuki pressed forward, feeling out the next legs of the maze with relative success.

 

When she rounded the corner, though, what she saw nearly got her killed. She saw Sami lying in a pool of her own blood, freshly killed by some shadowy beast. It was feeding off of her innards, but once it realized Yuki was there, it fled, off to probably murder her parents or something else horrific. As Yuki stared in disbelief and terror, a particularly large blast came from behind her. If her senses hadn’t been so heightened from all the trauma she’d been put through in the last few minutes, she might not have saved herself from this jet, but she caught her senses in time and whirled around, sword in hand. She gripped it tightly, wincing at the previous burn on her wrist and at the new burns that would likely form, and with her Dragon Steel blade she deflected the fire. It stopped in its tracks, splaying out in every direction but toward her, and once the flames let up, she continued through the maze, swearing revenge for her lost friend-

 

-but she’s still alive! The body wasn’t even wearing what Sami was wearing earlier, that couldn’t have been her. There’s no way she could have changed her clothes in the two minutes before they split in the tent and before she started the challenges. Sami takes forever to get dressed.

 

So she continued, lightness in her heart as she realized this was a part of the test… or something… and as she rounded another corner she spotted the exit. She made a mad dash toward the end, rolling out of the way of one last giant blast of fire, and she exited the maze… in one piece.

 

The crowd was of course overjoyed. Yasuko and Kensuke were just relieved their daughter was alive, and the sigh Sami gave at her best friend leaving the maze in one piece was so heavy she nearly gave herself a slight coughing fit.

 

“Congratulations, Yuki Meiyoken on passing the first of two Dragon Challenges. Please remove your armor and lay your weapon down for the final challenge.”

 

Yuki placed her weapon and armor on the rack where an unnamed warrior – _wow, she’s got to start remembering these faces_ – took them away. She was left only in her clothes and her face paint. Never before had she felt so vulnerable… and yet…

 

So powerful.

 

“The third and final Dragon challenge… Yuki will be exposed to this Dragon Spirit Amulet, containing the spirit of a millennia-old dragon. Should the dragon spirit within deem her worthy, we will know. Yuki Meiyoken, do you accept this challenge?”

 

“Yes.”

 

A healer carried the amulet down into the arena on a pillow, taking great care not to touch it. He presented the amulet to her and she confidently reached out and took the amulet. _Huh, this isn’t terrible,_ she thought, feeling the faint waves of power emanating from it. She could hear faint whispers in an unknown tongue…

 

As soon as the amulet was on, that’s when the pain started. Every fiber of Yuki’s being felt like it was being burned with the fiery heat of… well, probably dragon’s fire. She _screamed_ in pain for what felt like hours, though it was only a few seconds. The amulet scorched and sizzled, and glowed brightly upon her chest as she writhed on the ground. Finally the pain stopped, and everything was _quiet_.

 

No one dared breathe as Yuki remained still. Had she failed the test? Sami and her parents all looked at one another, sure that their friend and daughter was more than worthy. They all took a worried glance back to Yuki, wondering if they might need to send someone to collect a body.

 

But their fears were immediately abated as Yuki started to move! She rolled over onto her belly, then got up on her elbows… then she was kneeling… standing… throwing up her arms in victory as she, Yuki Meiyoken, had passed all of the tests and was now confirmed as a trueborn heir to the throne!

 

A victorious cheer sounded throughout the stadium, the loudest one that day, and the crowd began to storm the grounds, cheering on their princess. No one got close, though, that was for her parents alone.

 

Her father was the first to reach her. “Yuki, my strong daughter, we always knew you’d prove worthy!”

 

“Even when it looked bad, you still came through!” her mother followed up.

 

“What would you like for your coming-of-age gift? Armor? Gold? Sweetheart, anything you want, it’s yours.”

 

The two eagerly awaited her response – anything for their princess – but she merely gave a tired grin in response. Then, finally:

 

“I kind of just want a nap right now.”

 

Her parents laughed, then brought her in for one more, hopefully final, hug. They were interrupted by a familiar person.

 

“My lieges, I apologize, but the head of the clerical department requested you to finish filling out the papers. I’m sure this is the _last_ thing you want to do right now, but she insisted it was of utmost importance,” Sami looked more apologetic than Yuki had ever seen her, but as her parents bid her farewell for now, she broke into a wide grin.

 

“Sorry if you were enjoying yourself right now, but you looked like you could use a break. I know I’d want one if I-”

 

“Sami, please, just get me to my bed,” Yuki practically begged.

 

“Ha! I thought you’d never ask!” she retorted, and Yuki was too tired to refute the obvious innuendo, instead focusing on taking two steps without falling unconscious. She made it to her bed without too many incidents (maybe she fell down once? Twice?) and as soon as her head hit the pillow she was gone.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Whatever It Takes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7988377) by [zfreak93](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zfreak93/pseuds/zfreak93)




End file.
